Chapter 20 (3/3)
Today, he was dressed more casually than usual, almost sporty—a white T-shirt, black shorts. Simple clothes, yet somehow still carrying that same quiet refinement. His skin was already fair, his height striking. On him, such an ordinary outfit looked like something off a runway.
A black sports bag hung over his left shoulder.
In his right hand, he held a basketball.
His hand was large enough to grip it one-handed, fingers slightly bent, joints clean, long, and beautiful.
Mu Wan had never fully understood, back in high school, why so many girls liked boys who played basketball.
Now she thought she understood.
When you liked someone, everything they did looked unbearably attractive.
“Is that your basketball?” Mu Wan asked, eyes flickering toward it.
“Mm.”
Mu Wan looked at the brown ball and asked, “Can I try? I’ve never played basketball before.”
It was only five. No need to rush dinner yet. It had rained in the morning, but the weather had cleared, leaving the air cool and pleasant.
Perfect weather for basketball.
After she spoke, she glanced at Liu Qianxiu. There was a small note of request in her eyes.
The elevator doors, having been left open too long, were just beginning to close.
At the very moment they moved, Liu Qianxiu reached out with his right hand, stopped the door, and stepped out.
“Come on,” he said.
Mu Wan smiled at once.
She gave a little delighted hop behind him and followed.
Nanfeng Apartments had its own basketball court.
The sports facilities in a luxury complex were built with the same neat order as everything else. The basketball court sat beside the tennis courts, all enclosed behind wire fencing.
The rain from the morning had not fully dried. The court still gleamed damply, though there were no puddles left. At this hour, it was completely empty.
The two of them walked in one after the other through the entrance.
Mu Wan stepped onto the court and went straight under the hoop. Looking up at the rim high above her, she stretched out one white arm and tried to touch it.
She fell a long way short.
Still, Mu Wan had always believed she had decent athletic instincts.
She lowered her arm and called toward Liu Qianxiu, who was standing outside the three-point line.
“Liu Qianxiu, pass me the ball.”
Her soft voice echoed over the rain-damp court.
Liu Qianxiu tossed it over.
Perfectly straight.
It rolled right to her feet.
Under a sky still veiled with pale cloud, in air that was damp and clean, the slender woman lifted the ball beneath the blue backboard, aimed at the hoop with both hands, and threw.
Bang.
The brown ball struck the backboard and fell away.
She did not get discouraged.
Picking it up again, Mu Wan gave two little practice motions toward the hoop, then put more force behind her arms and threw once more.
This time it only clipped the rim.
The ball traced a clean line through the open air and bounced down behind her. Mu Wan turned, brows drawing together slightly as she panted softly, lips parted and damply red.
“Liu Qianxiu, I can’t make it in.”
Her voice was sweet, like fruit just past ripeness.
Walking after the ball, she added, “Can you make that shot?”
The ball had rolled all the way to his feet.
Liu Qianxiu stood beyond the line, looked at her once without expression, then bent slightly and picked the ball up one-handed, his knuckles paling faintly with the pressure.
Mu Wan stood at the center court, looking at him with uncertainty.
“You’re so far away. Can you really make it from there?”
He did not answer.
He set the basketball into his right hand, his wrist bending back slightly.
In the damp air, his dark eyes looked like two clear springs too deep to see the bottom of.
Then his wrist snapped forward.
The ball left his hand, passed over Mu Wan’s head, and in the next instant, when she turned—
Swish.
The ball dropped cleanly through the hoop, as cleanly as Liu Qianxiu had entered her heart.
It hit the ground and bounced again and again, the sound ringing through the empty court.
Mu Wan’s eyes followed the brown ball in little jumps. By the time it rolled to the base of the backboard, the court had fallen quiet again.
She stared for a moment, then turned back to Liu Qianxiu.
Under the low dark clouds, the man stood tall, long-legged, eyes like water, utterly clean and still.
“Liu Qianxiu... are you my god?” Mu Wan asked, tilting her head, her eyes full of bright starlight. Smiling, she said, “It feels like you can do every single thing I can’t.”
The sky hung high and thin.
The wind moved through the trees.
And somewhere, quietly, someone’s heart trembled.
“I’m going to make one too,” Mu Wan declared.
She ran lightly to retrieve the ball. Her pale fingers spread over the surface, each one cleanly shaped and beautiful. She backed up two steps until she stood beneath the hoop.
Just before she threw, someone came up behind her and wrapped both arms around her.
Mu Wan smelled a faint trace of mint.
Her jaw trembled.
Her body was rising, slowly, steadily.
In front of her, the rim drew nearer and nearer, until it seemed almost within reach.
“Shoot,” Liu Qianxiu said quietly behind her.
Her god had come to help her.
Ah, how sweet lol And he's finally making a move!
ReplyDeleteJust found this today, seems like a really nice story! Hopefully there's not too much drama with the cousin/Mu family.
Thanks for the chapters and stay safe!